Collapsible box



Patented .luly 1, 1930Y Per lj fr oFF-ic E FRED n, Loon-AND WILEY H. ywi-r'rnow, or. sourir RICHMOND, VrnGINI-A, YAssrefnons or, oNn-'rnrnn 'ro esonera n. ALLEN, or-vIorca1A,vrnG1NIA j ooLLArsIBLn nonv Application filed April 12,

The present invention relatesto a collapsible Vbox and has for its primeobject to provide a box which has a bottom formed in two sections one hinged to each sideL thereof and 5.a pair of ends formed in hingedly connected sections breakable inwardly of the box when the bottom sections are folded upwardly so that the box may be collapsed ina compact" manner to `take up little room when not in use and be capable ofl being conveniently carried in one hand. l

'A still further very important obj ect of the invention resides inthe provision of a box of this nature which is exceedingly simple inritsl 15.lconstruction7 strong and durable, inexpensive to manufacture, and thoroughly eilicient and reliable for the purpose intended.

With the above and numerous other objects in view as will appear as the descriptiony pro- 20,l Ceeds, the invention resides in certain novelv details of construction, and in the combinationr and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafterI more fully described and claimed.

In the drawing: Figure lis a top plan view of the box em-V bodying the features of our invention,-

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof, Figure 3 is a top plan view of the box showing the bottom sections swung upwardly and gozthe ends about to be collapsed inwardly, Figure 4 is an end elevation of the box,

Figure 5 is a view showing the box c01- lapsed, and

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail section showing-.the hinge connection of one of the bottom sections with one of the sides. s y n Referring to the drawing in det-ail it will be seen that the letters S denote the two sides, the letters E the two ends and the letter B ithe bottom.l Each side S comprises a-plurality of elongated rectangular plates 5, Figure 2 disposed one above the other in the same plane and secured together by reinforcement rods 6 which are extended therethrough.

Angular hinge brackets 7 are held in place at the edges of the plates 5 adjacent the ends thereof. The bottom plates 5 of the sides S are provided with openings 8 and bars 9 extended across lthe openings and in the open- .50 ings are bent inwardly as at 10. The bot-tom lees. sei-iai N6. 2692412,

` is formedin two sections 11'each of whichhas y a'pairof loops 12 through whichthe inwardly bent portions lO'of the bars 9 extend thereby hinge'dly mounting the bottom sections yto the lbottoms of the sides. The loops 12 are extended an ularlyfand `limitthe swinging movement o Athe bottoml sections 11 to the position shown in Figure 1 or to the position shown in Figure 5j. f A j `l`The-ends are each formed in two lhingedly connected sections. The sections of each endA E com-prises a pluralityof rectangular plates 14 secured jtogetherby reinforcing barsl one 'of which passes through hinge brackets 16 and through thel adjacent ends of hinge brackets yThe sections of the ends are hingedly connected togetherby hinge brackets 17-secured in place by certain reinforceme1'1tbars15`and through which extends pi'ntl'e bars'18. ,s Y i Said brackets 17 havetheir extremities directed outwardly of the box thereby allowing" the endv sections to break inwardlyr` only. These end sections are held in the same plane with each other when the bottom sections 11 are down but lwhen the bottom sections 11 are swung upwardly alongside the sides" `Si n the endsY may be broken inwardly as is in'di-k cated tov advantage in Figures 3 and 5, so that lthe box may be collapsed in the position shown in Figure 5. l

By virtue of the bracket,l 17 having their extremities directed outwardly of the box, and the pintle bars 18 being `disposed in said outwardly ,directed extremities, it will ber apparent'that when'thebox is setup ready for useas in Figure 1, the pintle bars 18 will rest outwardly beyond and in alinement with the joint between the `sections ofthe ends-'so as to reinforce and strengthen the contiguous 9o ends of the sections Vand preventthefsame moving outwardlyI beyond the positions inv which the sections of the ends `are in r alinement. '1, y.

The sides S are provided in their uppermost plates 5 vwith hand receiving openings 5X, andmanifestly when the box is collapsed as shown'` in Figure 5, the said hand openings 52 will be in registrationk and sufficiently close together for thereception of a single hand 109 so as to enable a user to conveniently carry the collapsed Abox in one hand.

lVhen the boxis collapsed as shown in Figure 5, the ends of the end sections which are connected with the sides project beyond the sides as designated by 16x in F igurev 5 so that said section ends will serve as fenders to provtect the `remainder of the collapsed box against injury when the extended ends con' tact with other objects. Y

As shown at 14 in Figure 3, the sections of the ends E are provided at their inner sides and near their lower edges with ledges on which the bottom sections 1l rest, when said bottom sections 11 are in working position.

As best shown in Figure 4 lapped plates 18X are rsecured by bars or rods 15 between the edge'wise superposed plates 14 of the sections of the ends E, and the said lapped plates 18l receive the pintle bars 18. 4 j

lFor stacking purposes the lowerplates 5 of Jthe sides S are provided with recesses 20, andV the `upper plates 5 of said sides S are provided with upwardly extending projections 21, preferably in the form of staples, as shown. Manitestly when a plurality of boxes of our construction are superposed, the projections Q1 oi one box will rest in the recesses 2() of the next upper box so as to maintain the boxes in y verticalfaiinement and` against casual movenientout ot' alinement with each other.

It is thought that the construction, operation, utility and advantages of the invention will now be clearly apparent to those skilled in this art without a more detailed description thereof. The present embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in considerable detail merely for the purposes of exemplilication since in actual practice it attains the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the invention and the above description. V

Y It, will be apparent that changes in the details of construction, and in the combination andarrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described our invention, what We claim as new is: Y

1. 1n a collapsible box having sides and inwardlyfolding ends connected with the sides, handles complementary to the sides and relatively arranged to rest opposite each other in transverse alinement when the box is collapsed, whereby said handles may be grasped in a. single hand of a user for the convenient carri age Iof the collapsed box. v

2. In a collapsing box having sides and inwardly folding ends connected with the sides, handles,complementary to the sides and relatively arranged to vrest opposite each other in transverse alinement When the box is collapsed, whereby said handles may be grasped in a. single hand of a user for the convenient carriage of theyrcollapsed box; the said handles being afforded by registering openings inthe upper portion of the sides, Y

and the said openings beingv disposed at opposite sides of and in alinement with the space between the ends when said ends are-in their inwardly folded positions." I

In testimony whereof we aix our signa- 

